The Rains are Here

The summer rains have finally arrived here in southeastern Arizona. We call these rains the "monsoons", although some meteorological professionals object to that usage. We mostly ignore such people.

It was a classic build-up to the season. First, there was the hot and dry weather that dominates the end of May and most of June. High temperatures were in the 100 to 107 degree range, and in the city of Tucson, nighttime lows creeped up into the mid-seventies. The skies were blue upon blue with no clouds anywhere. Now most people would described these conditions as hellish, but the older I get the more I seem to enjoy that kind of weather. The one thing I don't like about the hot dry June weather is that it will kill any creature, plant or animal, that is unprepared or unprotected. I lost a tomato plant earlier in the month because I went too long between watering. But back to the description of the seasonal change.

During the hot and dry time, you will begin to notice the build up of some lightweight cumulus to the south of Tucson, over the Santa Rita mountains. This build up will dissipate by late afternoon, and it may depart for a few days and then return. I look favorably towards these clouds, even though there is no rain or shade from them. They are a sign that God remembers us here in the desert.

After about a week of this light cumulus pattern, you will begin to notice scattered afternoon thunderstorms over the San Pedro valley in Cochise county, near Benson. You may also notice that the light cumulus pattern starting to build over the Santa Catalina's. Now these clouds may offer some shade, but only if they wander away from the mountain.

When the rains do come, it comes as a slug of moisture up from Mexico. The day will start out as partly cloudy, but by 10 o'clock the clouds will begin to organize into cumulonimbus, initially over the mountains, but meandering into the valleys and basin by mid-afternoon. These storms always come with considerable cloud to ground lightening and can leave as much as one inch of rain in an hour.

The start of this years monsoon season corresponded with a book that I've finished, titled The Desert Smells Like Rain, by Gary Nahban. This book is about the agriculture and cuisine of the Tohono O'odama people in south-central Arizona. Nahban studied the culture of the Tohono O'odama for many years and has wonderful insights about their language and culture.

One huge problem the Tohono O'odama have is diabetes. The thought seems to be that the Tohono O'odama have adaptable to a diet not so high in carbohydrates and a diet that varies in quantity throughout the year. Now with a Western diet full of cheap carbs, the Papagos, as the Tohono O'odama are also known as, have become insulin insensitive, and follow that path to full blown diabetes.

Another item Nahban discusses is the farming of sheet runoff areas. That, combined with seeds that can come to maturity with only one or two such runoffs, means that the O'odama can conduct agriculture in a very arid regions.

It was a very enjoyable book and I recommend it to anyone.